Can payments help lagging
airlines catch up to fliers' mobile-first behaviour?
As the aviation industry
continues brainstorming new ways to reach travelers and keep up with demand for
mobile-first services, investing more heavily in digital payment options could
help cement a win in the battle against online travel agencies.
With more than half the world set
to own a smartphone by 2019, companies must do the appropriate legwork now to
ensure that they offer all common activities, such as banking, purchasing and
booking, on mobile devices. Airlines in particular should place a greater
emphasis on exploring all mobile payment methods and integrating them into
their existing sites or apps, especially as they fend off rising competition
from online travel agencies.
“It won't be long before nearly
all airline passengers' payments and transactions with airlines will be
conducted on mobile devices,” said Kristian Gjerding, CEO of CellPoint Mobile.
“If airlines are not able to bring new payment solutions to market quickly,
they're losing valuable revenues, they're lagging the mobile-first behaviors
and preferences of their passengers, and they're giving up a competitive
advantage to airlines that are embracing and deployment passenger-centric
mobile payment solutions and mobile wallets.
“The opportunities for airlines
that deploy mobile payments quickly, however, are enormous,” he said. “Airlines
can create new revenue streams for passengers as they travel, including tickets
and fares in the direct channel, and ancillary revenues throughout the journey.
“According to eMarketer, up to
$762 billion in digital travel revenues will be up for grabs by 2019, and
airlines that can accept, process and transact revenues in the mobile
environment have a competitive advantage over those that are lagging. By some
estimates, airlines can capture tens to hundreds of millions in additional
revenues simply by deploying mobile payments for their passengers. They can
turn ‘lookers’ into ‘bookers’ by making it easy to pay, regardless of device,
currency or channel.”
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